1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sewing cutter used for making an ornamental quilt such as "a straight slash quilt."
2. Description of the Related Art
The above-mentioned straight slash quilt is produced as follows. First, a quilt 7 shown in FIGS. 16A-16B is prepared. air. The quilt 7 includes a plurality of rectangular cloth layers 7a-7d which are sewn together by thread 70. The lowermost cloth layer 7a is larger than the upper cloth layers 7b-7d which are equal in size. As shown in FIG. 16A, the seams 71 running bias extend in parallel to each other and are evenly spaced.
Then, as shown in FIG. 17, a plurality of straight cuts (or slashes) are made in the upper layers 7b-7d between the adjacent seams 71 for dividing the upper layers 7b-7d into plural groups of strip-shaped layers 72. Thus, an intermediate quilt 7' is obtained. The intermediate quilt 7' is washed in water for shrinking the strip-shaped layers 72, and dried. As a result, the layers 72 are made fluffy, as shown in FIG. 18. Thus, a straight slash quilt 7" is obtained.
Conventionally, the above-mentioned cutting operation for the upper cloth layers 7b-7d is performed by using sewing scissors (not shown) or a ripper 9 as shown in FIG. 19, for example.
As shown in FIG. 20, the ripper 9 includes a handle 90 to be held by the user, and an elongated metal member 91 attached to the handle 90. The elongated member 91 is provided with a protrusion 91a, and a recess 91b which is formed with a cutting edge 92. With such an arrangement, the conventional ripper 9 is used for ripping thread to open seams by utilizing the protrusion 91a or for cutting cloth to make a button hole for example by utilizing the cutting edge 92.
It has been found that, when used for cutting the upper cloth layers 7b-7d, the conventional ripper 9 suffers some problems which will be described below.
Specifically, to cut the upper cloth layers 7b-7d with the conventional ripper 9, the user inserts the protrusion 91a between the lowermost layer 7a and the upper layers 7b-7d as shown in FIG. 21. Then, the user moves the ripper 9 forward as indicated by an arrow in the figure. As a result, the cutting edge 92 cuts through the upper layers 7b-7d between the adjacent seams 71, as shown in FIG. 19.
As can be seen, for performing the cutting operation smoothly, it is necessary for the user to use his free hand for stretching the upper cloth layers 7b-7d transversely of the cutting direction. However, since the distance between the adjacent seams 71 is rendered rather small (about 7 mm for example), it is difficult for the user (especially for the beginner) to properly stretch the upper layers 7b-7d, while simultaneously moving the ripper 9 forward by the other hand.
Further, as shown in FIG. 22, the elongated member 91 of the ripper 9 has a relatively small thickness Si as compared with the distance S2 between the adjacent seams 71. Thus, as being moved forward, the cutting edge of the ripper 9 may unduly meander, as shown in FIG. 22.
Still further, the protrusion 91a of the conventional ripper 9 is brought into direct contact with the lowermost layer 7a, as shown in FIG. 21. Thus, as the ripper 9 is moved forward, the lowermost layer 7a will be damaged by the protrusion 91a.
The user may encounter the same problems in using sewing scissors for cutting the upper cloth layers 7b-7d.